Morning in Metropolis
by Rosepixie
Summary: A series of very short stories about characters from the DC Comics universe in the morning (not all are in Metropolis). There is very little plot, but it is safe to assume that the stories all take place on the same morning, so small connections may become evident. I have no current plans to expand any of these, but may continue to add more of them over time.
1. Wonder Woman

Diana woke up and glanced at the little glowing clock by her bedside. As expected, it was six o'clock in the morning. Even when she wanted to, she couldn't seem to stay asleep past six. Apparently, a thousand years or so of having Philippa wake her up promptly at six every single morning couldn't be unlearned, even after a very late night of fighting another madman in a power suit in Kasnia.

With a sigh, Diana rolled over and found a better position. She really wanted to go back to sleep. She closed her eyes and took deep, slow, relaxing breaths.

Unfortunately, her brain seemed perfectly content with the mere two hours of sleep that she had gotten and, despite the protests from her sore muscles, had moved on to other things. In this case, the "other thing" was the dark, mysterious Bat with piercing blue eyes and a deep, velvety voice who had helped her in Kasnia.

Giving up on the dream of more sleep entirely (at least for the moment), Diana flopped ungracefully onto her back and stared up at the ceiling. She let her mind wander freely back to the puzzle of the Batman. He was certainly tall and handsome and his dedication as a warrior for the side of justice was unquestionable, but he was also prickly, antisocial, and arrogant. Not to mention the distressing "playboy" persona that he so carefully cultivated for Bruce Wayne.

In truth, that alter-ego thing was part of what she found so confusing. Cognitively, she understood why Bruce maintained such a strict separation between his Dark Knight persona and his millionaire businessman person. That didn't make it easier for her to accept it on an emotional level, though.

Diana was used to a world where everyone was exactly who they appeared to be. Not that Amazons didn't lie and deceive as much as anybody else, because they did, but at least you knew who was lying to you. Bruce didn't work that way, though. He would be chatting with her on a rooftop one night and pretending to be just meeting her for the first time the next day. So, did he like her or not? Or did the Bat like her while Bruce Wayne was uninterested? And how was she supposed to know when he refused to talk about anything of the sort?

She could go in circles with this train of thought forever. She had. It was likely she would again, probably many times. This was becoming a very real problem, but she had no one to discuss the problem with.

Heaving herself out of bed with screaming sore muscles, Diana made her way over to the shrine she had built on one side of the room. She may not have a proper temple to the Gods anymore, but that didn't mean that she couldn't ask for their aid. Sinking before it into a reverent pose, she let the candles and incense.

"Goddess Aphrodite, I ask you to guide me in all your wisdom …"


	2. Nightwing

The alarm began buzzing loudly. Dick groan and rolled over onto his back, still mostly asleep. He reached out blindly to stop it, but there was nothing where he expected the little clock to be. With an even louder groan, he remembered that it was across the room. He was home, in Wayne Manor. Bruce wanted him to go on some business trip today, so he'd ridden his bike down yesterday afternoon. He couldn't remember what Alfred had told him made this business trip special and he hadn't gotten the chance to ask Bruce before Batman had left on patrol.

As he rolled out of bed to track down the still-screaming alarm clock, Dick could feel a whole new set of bruises that he was pretty sure he hadn't had yesterday. Party favors from patrolling in Gotham last night. Stumbling across the room, he finally got the obnoxious buzzing to stop.

He stood blinking at the sunlight streaming into the room. Alfred always opened the curtains wide before he woke up. A suitcase sat on a wooden folding frame next to his dresser, already mostly full with meticulously pressed and folded clothing. That was one thing he missed from living in the manor - Alfred always did most of the packing for him (apparently because Bruce was hopeless at it). He and Tim had always been responsible for their own school bags and such, but Alfred took care of suitcases.

Dick made his way over to his private bathroom and turned on the water in the shower to get it nice and hot. A very hot shower usually helped sooth some of the aches of patrol and it felt like he needed it now. Especially if he was going to be stuck on a airplane with Bruce for a while.

He turned to the mirror while waiting for the shower water to warm up. A cursory examination showed an assortment of bruises on his arms and chest, most of them still the sort of yellowy-orange coloring that meant they would certainly darken into a deep brownish-purple by tomorrow. There was one low on the left side of his ribcage that was about the size of a fifty-cent piece and already an almost pretty swirl of rainbow colors. One of the goons last night had gotten a lucky shot, but it hadn't payed off for him in the long run. With a sigh, Dick dug around in the cabinet under the sink until he found an adhesive cold pack. He set it on the counter so he could apply it to the bruise after his shower.

The water had finally gotten hot and steam was beginning to fill the bathroom, so Dick slipped out of his shorts and stepped under the stream of water. The heat felt great and he sighed, just enjoying the feeling for a minute. This was definitely a good way to start the day.


	3. Harley Quinn

Harley stretched her arms above her head and walked into the bathroom, shutting the door behind her. She turned on the water in the sink and watched it splash into the porcelain basin and gurgle down the drain as she waited for it to warm up. She loved how falling water almost sounded like laughter. Even water loved to laugh!

When the water was warm enough, Harley began to wash her face, splashing the water with her washcloth as she did. She was at Ivy's house, so there were lipstick pots and tubes all over the counter, but none of the large, flat, white plastic pancake makeup dishes that cluttered her bathroom at home.

As she continued her morning toilette, minus putting on her harlequin makeup (that would wait until later), she wondered if she should go home today. Mr. J was back at Arkham and home was so lonely without him. Normally, she tried not to let him get captured without her, but this time it was part of his big, beautiful plan and she had to be free to assist with his escape when the time came. The plan didn't call for her help for a few days, though, and Harley was getting bored. That was why she had opted to stay at Ivy's last night. Home was just too empty without Mr. J.

She headed out to the kitchen, hoping to find Ivy, but it she wasn't there. A glance out the window confirmed that she was outside tending to the flowers growing in her yard. Her special flowers were all in the greenhouse out back, but Ivy was no snob. She loved all plants, regardless of how useful they were to her. That was one of the things that Harley loved about Ivy.

Humming to herself, Harley set about making french toast for the both of them. They should be ready by the time Ivy made it back inside and they'd have a nice, quiet breakfast. Mmmm! French Toast!


	4. Lois Lane

Lois reached over to her bedside table without opening her eyes and turned off the screaming alarm clock. Staying as nestled under the quilt as she could, she turned over and reached for her husband. When her hand found his side of the bed empty, her eyes popped open in concern.

His side of the bed clearly hadn't been slept in at all. She remembered Clark getting a Justice League summons during dinner and flying off. He hadn't told her where he was going, but he had assured her that he would return before morning, so where was he?

Lois reached for the remote control, which rested on the far side of her bedside table. The reach nearly caused her to fall out of the bed, but she managed to catch herself and pull herself up into a sitting position, remote in hand. Chewing absently on her lower lip, Lois clicked on the television set. It was already on the news channel, so she put the remote in her lap and anxiously waited for a story that might explain the empty bed.

The irritatingly perky anchorwoman babbled on about yesterday's sporting events while the tall anchorman by her side smiled at her vapidly. God, Lois hated television "reporters". Trying to mostly tune out the babble, she focused on reading the headline ticker along the bottom of the screen and wait for the announcers to get to the real news.

PRIME MINISTER TO TOUR IRELAND

FIRE BLAZES OUTSIDE LA

JUSTICE LEAGUE STOPS RAMPAGE IN KASNIA

Lois scowled. Kasnia seemed to be nothing but trouble. Every few weeks, Clark had to run off to deal with some new crisis in the tiny country. They were rarely anything to make her really worry, but that didn't mean she liked the situation.

Chewing on her lip again as she half-listened to the weather report, Lois climbed out of bed. He'd come home when he could. She should shower and get dressed in the meantime. Even if he was busy, she still had work to do. News didn't stop happening just because Superman was off somewhere fighting monsters. Besides, the chances of whatever was going on in Kasnia even being able to scratch him were astronomically low, right? Best to stop that line of thinking before it went too far.

The sound of the balcony door opening behind her made Lois whirl around, a huge smile spreading across her face. Superman stood in the doorway in his bright blue and red uniform with a big smile for her and not so much as a scratch anywhere that she could see. She took a deep breath and felt her heart start slowing to its normal rate for the first time since she had realized he wasn't in bed.


	5. Alfred Pennyworth

Pulling his dressing gown tighter around him against the early morning chill, Alfred gazed out the windows of the manor kitchen. The view faced off to the side of the Wayne property, not towards the night lights of Gotham. Instead, beyond the manor fence he had a glimpse of what appeared to be a largely untraveled stretch of road. He kept hoping to see a distinctive automobile speeding along the road towards home, but as yet it had not appeared.

With a sigh, he turned back towards the kitchen. A watched pot never boils and staring at the road would not make the Batmobile return any sooner. Alfred pulled the well-used kettle off the back burner of the stove and held it under the running faucet to fill. Some tea would keep him busy for a few minutes and then warm him while he waited.

As he waited for the water to boil, Alfred set out a tea set and lifted a beautiful (and obviously well-used) tin of tea leaves out of the cupboard. He couldn't keep his eyes from drifting to the stretch of road outside the window, so he was startled when the kettle began to whistle. Alfred quickly lifted the kettle off of the stove and turned off the heat. He poured some leaves and then the hot water into the teapot and sat down to wait for his tea to steep.

The sky was beginning to lighten in the East. Looking out at the horizon, Alfred's brow furrowed in concern. Both Dick and Tim had returned to the manor a few hours ago and were safely in their beds, but there was yet no sign of Bruce. He was expected at the airport by 10am for a private flight to Metropolis with Dick. Alfred had already packed Bruce's suitcase, but he had been hoping to send them both off with at least a few hours of sleep.

As he was pouring tea from the delicate china teapot into the pretty matching teacup, a buzzing startled him. In his surprise, the teapot shook just a little bit and a small amount of tea spilled over the edge of the cup and onto the saucer beneath it. Alfred set the teapot back onto the tray and reached for a towel with a smile.

"At least he's finally home."


	6. Superman

Superman was running late. He knew that he was running late and that she would probably be worried. He hated making her worry, but sometimes it was inevitable. Of course, when she worried she often got annoyed and he did think that she was cute when she was annoyed.

He smiled as he glided over the towers of Metropolis. It was beautiful with the morning sun glinting off the windows and spires and the sight always made him smile. It was so different from the quiet countryside where he had grown up, but he had become attached to the busy city. It had truly become home.

The balcony of his apartment came into view and he shifted his vision to look past the open curtains and into the bedroom. He was hoping that she would still be asleep, but had no such luck. She was sitting up in the bed. The light from the television set, undoubtedly the news, flickered across her face.

As his feet landed gently on the balcony, she stood up and began to move towards the bathroom. It occurred to him that he could wait for her to get into the shower before opening the door. The water always had a calming effect on her. Perhaps if he let her shower and then she found him waiting for her when she got out, she would be so relaxed and happy to see him that he could avoid her ire (cute as it was, it was also scary).

He knew that Bruce would wholeheartedly approve of that course of action. Bruce thought Lois's anger was scary too. Unfortunately, he also knew Diana would call it cowardly. And, as she so often was, she would be correct.

Squaring his shoulders, Superman unlocked the balcony door. He pushed aside the curtain and stepped boldly into the apartment.

"Good morning, Sweetheart," he greeted her as she whirled around to face him. "I'm sorry that I'm so late."


	7. Batman

Batman sped almost silently along the darkened streets of Gotham in the Batmobile. The sky was beginning to grow pale in the east, letting him know that dawn was fast approaching. Alfred was probably worried, but at least he knew that both Dick and Tim had gone home and turned in a while ago. Hopefully they were both safe and sleeping right now. Normally, even Batman didn't stay out this late.

Early in the evening he had been called to help with a crisis in Kasnia and when he had gotten back, he had been too awake to sleep. Instead, he had gone out on patrol.

Truthfully, it wasn't so much that he was awake from the exertion as that his thoughts were too occupied to let him rest. Occupied with her. She hung there right behind his eyelids whenever he let them close. She tormented him, and she didn't even know she was doing it.

Bruce pounded his fist on the steering wheel as visions of her rose unbidden before him again, the memory of her scent and the feel of her hair crashed over him like a flood. He was determined to push the vision away, but true to her Amazon nature, she refused to be pushed anywhere. She wouldn't bend to the will of a man, even when she wasn't really even present.

In his frustration, Bruce allowed his foot to step more heavily on the gas pedal. He was outside the city with its narrow streets now and able to go faster along the largely unused roads that led to the Batcave's back entrance. He knew that he would be unusually tired later in the day, but perhaps he could catch a quick nap on the short plane ride to Metropolis.

The Batmobile glided almost silently, like a shadow, into the cave. Alfred was just making his way down the stairs from the manor with a steaming cup of tea in his hand. He stopped next to the Batcomputer and sipped from the delicate teacup while Batman unfolded himself from the driver's seat and rose to his full height beside the car.

"Welcome home, Sir," Alfred said calmly. "Rather late tonight, even for you."

Batman showed no reaction. He could hear the disapproval in his butler's calm voice where most people would have only heard a respectful observation, but he chose to ignore it. He turned to make his way towards a changing room door on the other side of the Batcomputer.

"The news had a report about the events in Kasnia this evening," Alfred continued conversationally as he watched the Batman glide almost silently away from him. "Miss Diana looked particularly lovely in the footage they got."

Almost imperceptibly, the Dark Knight's step faltered. Without turning or otherwise acknowledging his butler, he continued on his way. As he disappeared into the changing room where clean, fresh clothing was laid out waiting for him, Alfred took another sip of his tea with a small smile playing about his lips.


	8. Oracle

Barbara yawned as she reached to turn the alarm clock off. She had been up directing the Birds through a mission and helping a few other heroes with their own heroic projects until the early hours of the morning and it felt too early. But Dick had been back in Gotham for the night, meaning they had done some serious comms flirting while he patrolled, so she didn't mind the late hours too much.

She was up bright and early because she was expected to do a tech consult for a developing project at Wayne Enterprises this morning. Not wanting to face Bruce's irritation if she stood up his team, she obeyed the alarm clock and get up, despite her lack of sleep. With a sigh, the redhead pushed the blankets off and levered herself up into a sitting position. She considered foregoing a shower, given that it was a video consult instead of an in-person one, but ultimately decided that it might go a long way towards waking her up.

Barbara hoisted herself into the wheelchair beside her bed in a long-practiced motion with a resigned sigh. She headed to the closet first and collected an outfit to put on after her shower. In light of the morning's meeting, she chose comfortable jeans and a soft long-sleeve shirt Dinah had picked up for her on a whim one day. It had what appeared to be an abstract pattern on it in purples, but really had Batgirl symbols mostly hidden throughout. It was one of her favorites and the perfect mix - geeky but also subtle enough to get away with. It had the added bonus of making Bruce scowl and Dick smirk when they saw it, which always amused her. She carried the clothes with her to the bathroom and started up the water to get it warm.

As she showered, her brain began going over the information that Dinah had collected last night and figuring out what their next move should be. The Birds had been working on taking down a series of underground fighting rings that purported to feature meta powered kids. The information Dinah had found last night revealed that the superpowers were all smoke and mirrors, though, which meant the fighters were all regular, non-super-powered kids. Barbara felt like something was fishy about the whole thing. The scheme didn't make sense and something about it made the back of her neck itch like walking into traps or ambushes always did. She planned to comb through the information again to figure out what was really going on. If it was a trap, she wanted to know before sending the Birds into it so that they could be prepared.

Once she was showered and dressed, Barbara made herself some coffee and got situated before her laptop in the living room of her apartment. She was happy to help Wayne Enterprises when Bruce and Lucius asked, but she was not about to risk giving the company so much as a glimpse of her command center. Even Bruce hadn't gotten to see certain parts of it. That meant the whole meeting had to be done on her laptop in front of a perfectly ordinary living room without a hint of Oracle or superhero business in sight.

As she got situated, the communication app chimed to let her know the team at Bruce's headquarters in Gotham was ready for her. Barbara turned on her "girl next door" smile, relaxed her shoulders into a casual pose, and accepted the call.


	9. Green Arrow

Oliver Queen stretched his legs, enjoying the feel of the silk sheets on his skin. It wasn't quite as good as another feeling he could think of, but it was still particularly pleasant. The blond hero rolled over onto his back and sighed as his muscles protested. Sometimes running around on rooftops wasn't all it was cracked up to be.

A groan and the sheets shifting beside him drew his attention. Asleep at his side was a gorgeous woman with cascades of canary blond locks flowing over her shoulder. His deadly angel. She had been off on a mission when he fell asleep and Ollie wondered when she had come to bed.

With a mischievous smile, he pushed the golden hair off of her neck and blew softly across her ear. A hand shot up and grabbed his wrist. Even he was startled at the speed of the motion. He had hoped that perhaps he'd have an advantage while she was asleep, but clearly that was wishful thinking.

"Do you want to still be able to hit a target later today?" she growled.

Ollie laughed.

"Why so testy this morning, Pretty Bird?" he asked.

Dinah sat up and turned towards him, never letting up the firm grip she had on his wrist. She was wearing a Batman t-shirt from his closet (bought to annoy Bruce) and her hair was charmingly tousled, but there was still a deadly glare in her bright blue eyes.

"Do you have any idea how late it was when I got here?" she asked.

"Well," he replied, making no attempt to keep the smirk off his face, "I was out past three and my bed had no songbirds in it when I came home, so I'm going to guess it was sometime after that. Am I right?"

"_Well_ after," she deadpanned. "And now I am going to get more sleep. The shop is covered today and I happen to know that Babs is busy until after two, so she won't be calling. So I am going to lay back down and go back to sleep. You are welcome to join me or not, as you choose. If you wake me up again before at least lunchtime, however, you won't be able to draw a bow for at least a week."

With that, she released his wrist, planted a sweet kiss on his still smiling lips, and curled up on her side facing away from him. She pulled the sheet up her chin and snuggled in for a good few hours more of sleep. Ollie smiled and spooned up behind her, wrapping her in his arms.

"How could I refuse an invitation like that, Pretty Bird?" he murmured into her hair.

With matching smiles of satisfaction, they both drifted back to sleep.


	10. Huntress

Helena groaned when the alarm went off. It had had been far too late a night for getting up this early in the morning! Unfortunately, she couldn't exactly call the principal and explain that she had been up until after 3 a.m. saving teenagers from a criminal cage fighting ring and was too tired to teach today.

Besides, she reminded herself as she swung her legs over the side of the bed, her class had presentations scheduled today. They had worked very hard on those presentations over the past couple of weeks and she knew that they deserved to be able to give them on the day that they expected to.

With another loud groan, Helena dragged herself to the bathroom and turned on the water for a shower. At least it would make her feel more human.

After her shower, as hot as she could stand it, she slipped into a skirt and blouse and grabbed a power bar. Standing by the window of her apartment, she slowly ate her power bar and looked out over the city.

Gotham City was very different by day. It was never a shiny, hopeful place like Metropolis, but it wore a coat of respectability and business that she understood wasn't as frightening during the day to most people. She knew that some heroes (and most innocent bystanders) liked to imagine that the criminals slept during the day and only carried out their nefarious doings at night. Helena literally grew up in that world, though, and she knew that the worst things happened in the bright daylight. Plans were drawn up, money changed hands, deals were struck all during upstanding, proper business hours.

She preferred the night. Children were sleeping, businesses were closed, and crime couldn't hide as easily behind a respectable looking veneer.

Turning away from the window and tossing her empty wrapper into the trash, Helena squared her shoulders and prepared herself to face another day.


End file.
